


Shori no Yume

by FarCryZine



Category: DAYS (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Military, Gen, M/M, kazama is a surfer, kimishita is south american, seiseki as a military unit, tskushi is a grocery boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 02:02:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10452480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FarCryZine/pseuds/FarCryZine
Summary: Captain Mizuki's unit is chosen as the first contact military force to deliver a special weapon to the aliens.





	

The Navy helicopter was one of the few larger units left in the skies. Anything that flew over 5100 feet was shot down immediately, no warning, by the invaders. Today it flew over a lush chunk of Alabama. The team of four men carried inside looked out over old flood waters, signs and posts sticking up out of the murky sludge, waves of trees flowing by like a green carpet under them. In many towns, only the roofs showed above the dirty water.

  
The men were outfitted for light combat, loose travel, wearing basic fatigue pants and black tshirts in the southern heat. At their feet were duffel bags full of their standard battle gear with a few personal favorites thrown in. The team captain, Mizuki, a black-eyed man of Japanese stock was known among the units for being an oddball. He’d come up through the ranks quickly after the Battle of Raleigh-Durham, as he was one of the few survivors when the invaders used the hot laser, or “the melter”, as the guys called it. He said little, but when he did, it was fifty-fifty on whether it’d make sense or not.

  
Second in command, Kimishita, was a long-haired, stern-looking guy with a hint of a South American accent and a tendency to growl everything. He’d briefed them on their mission, with the permission of the captain. Go to the Alabama base, assess their situation, get the girl, and rendezvous with the aliens. Hand off the girl, back away slowly, avoid conflict.

  
The two other members of the team were newish to the game, though one was a Navy brat and was playing it cool in front of the other. The other was oohing and ahhing looking out the window, pointing at things. These two were Privates Kaz and Suki.

  
Kimishita glanced over at Captain Mizuki who was watching them. Mizuki was noting Kaz’s languor, his surfer-blonde hair and easy grin, the fluidity of his movements. He noted the seemingly endless energy of Suki, a cute college-age kid with soft brown eyes and soft brown hair. Hopefully he’s not too soft, Mizuki thought to himself. Kimishita seemed to read that thought and humphed, turning away from the two young ones with a sneer.

  
Their last mission had been a failure, and their previously eight man unit was temporarily four now, with the rest in the hospital, healing and undergoing a muscle-regrowth program. The depression that had set over Suki after that mission had seemed to have lifted now, thanks to Kaz’s encouragement and ability to bounce back, and possibly from Kimishita’s anger and browbeating.

  
Before boarding the helo in Nashville at their home base, Suki had asked the Captain about the high failure rate at the Battle of Raleigh-Durham. The captain had said: “It’s because people give up halfway through that makes it look like they’ve failed. Given a longer timeline, it could’ve been seen as victory.” This had silenced Suki and Kaz, perhaps in confusion. Captain Mizuki had looked away to the horizon.

  
Kimishita understood him implicitly, and as their transport approached the landing pad, he yelled over the sound to Kaz and Suki: “Defeat, despair, injury, fatigue…you’ve got to absorb it all! It’s all part of your next victory! Live to fight again, and you haven’t failed. Everything becomes the next win!” He looked angrier than ever, Suki thought, his eyes blazing, his hair whipped around by the backdraft of the helo blades. Suki could tell then that Kimishita really loved the captain and wanted him to be understood. He wanted to serve Mizuki, to kneel down, to give his life’s energy.

  
Kaz smiled at Suki’s determined face and Kimishita’s glare. Kaz had met Suki about a year ago. Kaz’s duty that month had been to stack sandbags in a small town in an Arkansas valley. Suki was a boy delivering groceries for a pantry on his bike. Back and forth, up and down this huge hill he rode. On one of his trips back down the hill, Suki had plowed into a new wall of sandbags Kaz had just stacked. Kaz had taken it lightly, laughed and introduced himself. Suki was a flustered ball of confusion, trying to help him stack the bags, incorrectly of course, the bags falling, Suki continually apologizing and berating himself for his clumsiness. He groaned over and over at his mistake but bounded around like a puppy trying to help. Kaz was dying with laughter at his charades and had subsequently gotten in trouble with his superior for not getting the barricade back up in a timely manner.

  
As they looked down at the passing scenery the pilot spoke up through the headphones: “About ten klicks to the base. Not much left around here but that.” Most of the people left in the U.S. were concentrated between 32 and 35 degrees North latitude. The flooding and extreme weather that followed the alien’s arrival killed a lot of people and drove the rest to the last hospitable strip of the country. We hadn’t done very well against them. They were a mystery. But this mission, this girl, could be a key to a truce, a key to understanding them. She was destined to be a liaison. The captain believed in the mission, though he wasn’t required to. Kimishita didn’t believe because he wasn’t built like that; but he believed in the captain.

  
The captain was a year older, but they’d come up together. Kimishita could remember a time when Mizuki was just a weirdo, a ridiculously fit and agile weirdo. Somehow along the way, through all their training and battles and missions, Kimishita had realized something about them both. In the beginning, it was only a thrill for him—watching Mizuki get stronger and more skilled. He was an amazing learner and absorbed everything. But soon enough, Kimishita reviewed the situation objectively. “We’re no longer on the same level,” he told Mizuki one day after a rough PT. Mizuki just smiled his strange, closed smile at him, his very Japanese response. It’s fine for now, Kimishita thought, covertly glancing at him as they began to descend to the landing area. I don’t need to put a name to this feeling I feel toward you, Mizuki. But I want to be the one who provides the means to your triumph. The captain suddenly looked at him, making a hand signal to ready everyone. Kimishita nodded back, thinking, of that I am certain.  
“It’s amazing, right Kaz?” Suki said as they walked away from the helo and toward the Operations building. “That everyone believes this girl can be raised with the aliens, can learn to understand them? How’s it possible?”

  
“I heard some crazy stories, for sure,” Kaz replied. “She’s been raised to deal with any kind of new world.”

  
“Makes sense,” Kimishita growled. “She’s still young, so she can learn.”

  
“She can swim in this gloopy cornstarch water,” Kaz threw an arm around Suki’s neck as they walked. “She can live off of strange food and climb upside down on a cliff outcropping.”

  
“Wha?” Suki was impressed.

  
“Her dad plays funny games with her, calls her different names, releases snakes into the house, dresses up in wigs, all kinds of role play and pretending animals can talk. Their house is crazy. It’s at the edge of the base.” Kaz released him.

  
“We’re only here for a bit, just picking up the girl, and then checking on the ship before we head out, so save your brain cells from leaving your head, and keep your mouths shut.” Kimishita glared over his shoulder at them.

*** 

She stood in front of the four men of the team that would give her away. She was eight. Her hair was in a bob around her ears. Her father introduced them.  
“This is Captain Mizuki.” Mizuki stared straight at her, dead pan. She looked back. The father decided to move on.

  
“This is Kimishita.” Kimishita was frowning a bit.

  
“Keemee-shta,” she sounded it out. His frown deepened. “Is that your real name?”

  
He hesitated. “It’s the name I was given.”

  
“What’s your inside name?” She questioned seriously. “The name inside you?”

  
“I…” he began. “Don’t know. Yet.” Kimishita looked over at Mizuki who arched an eyebrow, then nodded shortly in approval. Kimishita reverted his eyes to her, flushing.

  
The father continued. “This is Kaz,” he said, gesturing to him. Kaz stuck out his hand to shake with his easy half smile on his face. She leaned in toward his hand, and licked it. He was careful to retract it slowly and not react the way he wanted to. His smile vanished into confusion.

  
“And this is Suki,” the father finished. Suki bowed, eyes closed, and remained bowed until she bowed back. They both stood upright then and smiled.

  
“Suki,” she said brightly. “You feel good.” Suki smiled. Kaz smiled too, knowing exactly what she meant, as that was how he had felt, meeting him. Though it threw Suki into a whirlpool of thoughts: was it because he was the only one who’d bowed? Who’d smiled? Was it his hair or because he looked nice? Could she read auras? Maybe that was it. Who knew? She was a strange one, and that was why she was chosen. What would her life be like with the aliens? She didn't even have a name. Her own father called her many things, saying that it would be most proper if the aliens named her first. She would have a strange upbringing as an alien liaison; the first of her kind...

***

 The ride up would be intense, Kaz knew. Taking an atmospheric vehicle up too far…Who knew what would fail first? He’d had some technical training in this kind of ship, so he knew he’d be called on for any emergency. Hopefully the invaders understood that they needed to meet us halfway. Kimishita was piloting this huge, strange flying machine. It was an extended Army copter but the aliens wouldn’t allow any kind of weaponry, so everything was stripped down. Panels were opened showing nothing but one-way wiring, holes where missing things used to be. They strapped in just behind the pilots’ seats, facing the rear which had a middle corridor, forking right and left at the back to other storage hatches. The girl liaison wore a strange harness over stretchy pants and a long sleeve soccer shirt. She had a backpack with her.

  
“What did you bring?” Suki asked, checking his straps and his forearm readouts.

  
“Some fruit roll ups. A candy necklace but it’s kinda old. A soft pillowcase. A compass. A scarf that can double as a rope. Two bouncy balls. My Hello Kitty pen with four colors. Some underwear. Another shirt.” She listed the items in monotone while looking at the ceiling.

  
“Hopefully they don’t think any of those things are weapons.” Kaz joked.

  
“A pen is a weapon,” Captain Mizuki said.

  
She nodded, then said, “or the scarf.” Mizuki nodded seriously in agreement.

  
“Ok. We got clearance here, so let’s get it done,” Kimishita said, putting on the helmet and firing up the rotors.

  
They rose up and flew in a northeast bearing, climbing steadily. As they got higher into the atmosphere, an alarm began to sound and they hit some heavy turbulence. “Kaz, go check that alarm. It’s in box C-8 in the corridor!”

  
Kaz unbuckled and lurched out of the straps, his hands, protected by fingerless gloves smashing forward into the corridor walls as he staggered along. He braced his feet against the sides of the wall, searching for the right hatch label. He dodged down to the end of the corridor, bracing in the corner and glanced at the screen set in the back. It was for the rear gunner display. It was showing flashes of what looked like a news clip. He realized it was streaming live. It showed their transport blowing through the clouds, heading right at another ship or plane. Maybe it was an outside view? Nah. What was that other thing?

  
Well damn, Kaz thought, if she can be adaptable, so can I. He ignored the turbulence and could hear Kimishita growling at the controls, the clouds, the military, the aliens. He smirked. Finally he found C-8 panel, pulled the tab to open it and checked it out. The floor under him did a giant drop and rise, and he almost puked into the open wiring. But no! Even if I have to crawl around back here in my own puke, I won’t lose! Because I know someone who falls and gets back up repeatedly, no matter what the setback! Suki, you crazy, happy, unbeatable fool…Kaz reached in and grabbed a melting solenoid or something and tore it out, along with a black and a green wire. He laughed and staggered back up the corridor to everyone.

  
Captain Mizuki did a thumbs up. Kaz threw the melted piece up front toward the empty co-pilot’s seat. “What the fuck was that?” Kimishita yelled. Kaz shrugged elaborately with his hands and sat heavily, smiling hugely at Suki, strapping back in. Kimishita growled something like, “Well, we’re still flying. Almost to the rendezvous.”

*** 

Kaz rubbed his head. “I hope that went ok. Man, that was weird. It’s funny to have this fuzzy thing wrapped around your memories. I hope she’s settling in ok and isn’t being tortured or something.”

  
“I don’t know why, but I feel like she’s fine,” Suki replied.

  
Apparently the handoff had gone well, but for all of them, they couldn’t remember what had happened. The doctors guessed it was blocked out either by the aliens, or their own minds were trying to protect them from trauma. Kaz thought of it as packing fluff around a snow globe, the memories being the globe.

  
They were taking it easy, lying on the beds in the Nashville recovery hospital with heavy security outside the doors. They didn’t remember, but the footage from the news had shown their transport stopping in midair, rotor blades stilled by some force, just floating in the atmosphere. A floating, aerodynamic cube of scaly looking metal had come and attached to the side of their copter. It was bigger than them by about four times, but looks could be deceiving.

  
Kaz sighed contentedly. “Well, that’s good that you think that. I’m sure you’d know.” Suddenly, he had a flash of Suki and the girl ahead of him, walking toward a big soap bubble, moving rainbows on its surface. The light behind it was so bright. He remembered Suki smiling and waving bye to the girl. They were both laughing. It seemed like fun and he was thinking of Suki as his best friend, the greatest…the bubble agreed.

  
Kaz sat up suddenly, his IV stand rattling, “Suki, do you remember a big soap bubble?”

  
Suki gave him such a confused puppy dog look that he lost the memory and laughed it off. “Oh well. We all came back ok.” The captain and Kimishita were supposedly in the recovery room next door. As they were separated, the captain had looked content, Kimishita, angry.

  
“What’s that?” Suki asked, cocking his head. He leaned up to look out the window down into the woodsy knoll beyond the hospital. “It’s not outside.”

  
“What’s what?” Kaz’s blonde hair fell into his eyes as he looked around.

  
“That sound.”

  
“Oh, knocking. I hear it too.” Someone was knocking on the wall. “Must be Kimishita telling us to keep it down.”

  
“No, I think it might be morse code. It’s repeating.”

  
“Suki, you’re so smart! Do you know morse code?” Kaz knelt up on the bed.

  
“No,” Suki flushed.

  
“It’s ok. I do, you nimrod. Any paper in here? A pencil?” Suki scrambled out of bed and dragged his IV stand to the little cabinet in the corner, pulling out drawers. “There’s only these cotton balls and tongue depressors.”

  
“You’re a genius!” Kaz relented, jumping up. “Bring them here and start laying them out: a cotton ball for the short ones, a tongue stick for the long ones.”

  
“It must be Captain Mizuki!” Suki was excited.

  
“Calm down or your heart machine will start beeping.” Kaz mumbled, focused now. They both sat back on the bed, smiling. He finally figured out what the morse code spelled out:

I – DREAMT – OF – VICTORY

 

*** 

Transcription of the liaison’s first report and debriefing with the Joint Chiefs:

"They said they’re sorry that their ship arriving here caused all this flooding."  
-what about the melter? They did that on purpose.  
"They were only shooting back because we shot at them first."  
-we didn’t shoot at them.  
"Well, whatever, somebody did."  
-What do they want?  
"I don’t know. Lots of stuff probably. Oh, they like lizards. They’re funny."  
-tell them they can have all the lizards they want.  
"They like to eat them. And breed them…for this fighting game where the lizards battle each other. I think that’s maybe why they came here. They thought we would be lizards. Or dinosaurs."  
-well, I guess they showed up too late for that. How are you? Your dad is very proud of you.  
"I’m fine. I have two friends now. And the food is fun. It glows and floats, like fireflies, and you can catch it in your mouth like snow."  
-anything else you want to tell us?  
"Hm. I’ll think about it. I’m kinda busy today. How is Suki? What is he doing? He would like it here too."  
-(Suki? –part of the handoff team. –the Nashville unit. Captain Mizuki’s. –oh, right. Still active duty.) He’s just fine. He and his team are still in Nashville. I will see if he can visit you sometime in the future. But you have to make sure it’s ok with them, the uh...aliens. We don’t want a misunderstanding.  
"It’s ok. I think they like him. Anyway, I have to go. I’m going to the lab with my friends. I’ll call you later."  
-…bye…  
"Kay bye!"

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a dream I had, and I just had to write it down! Sorry for the AU; i usually prefer fan fiction to exist within the same settings/canon. Changed the names to protect the innocent! :)


End file.
